The present invention relates to an image recording method and apparatus and, more particularly, to a facsimile apparatus applying an image recording method and apparatus capable of recording a color image.
The demand for a facsimile which is capable of communicating color image information is increasing, and a printer adopting an ink-jet method is available as a method to record color image information. The printer adopting the ink-jet method prints by discharging ink onto recording medium such as a recording paper sheet. One of the methods to discharge ink is to set a thermal electrode (heater) on a nozzle, and discharge ink by producing bubbles of ink at the thermal electrode.
Regarding an ink-jet printer capable of color recording, ink of four colors, that is cyan(C), magenta(M), yellow(Y), and black(K), is commonly used. Thus nozzles for ink of four colors are needed, and various colors are able to be expressed by controlling the discharging amount of the ink of each color.
An ink-jet printer, such as the one explained above, performs a so-called recovery operation in order to prevent holes of the nozzles from being stuffed and to stabilize the discharging amount of ink. Regarding the recovery operation, there are available several kinds of methods, such as an idle discharge operation which is performed at a certain interval of time (for stabilizing condition of nozzles by discharging ink on an area for receiving the discharged ink, not on an area for recording), and suction recovery (for stabilizing condition of nozzles by sucking ink out of the nozzles regularly, thereby preventing the nozzles from drying). Generally, the idle discharge operation is performed at a predetermined period during a recording operation. Further, the suction recovery is performed during a recording operation and stand-by status (the printer is on, but not currently recording) at a predetermined interval, for instance, once every 72 hours.
A color facsimile can be constructed by employing the aforementioned ink-jet color printer as a recording device of the facsimile. However, when color facsimiles in use in a facsimile market are considered, only K(black) ink seems to be used mostly since black and white information is mainly interchanged.
In a case where the color facsimile is used, in spite of using only K(black) ink, the idle discharge operation and the suction recovery are also performed on the nozzles for C(cyan), M(magenta), and Y(yellow). Regarding the consumed amount of ink, since the suction recovery is for preventing the nozzle from drying and so on, and is performed between long time interval, such as once every seventy two hours, the ink is not consumed noticeably. However, the idle discharge operation is performed at pretty short interval, thus there is a problem in that much ink is wasted by the idle discharge operation.
Further, the situation is the same for a color printer to record an image on the basis of print data from a host computer. For example, it is not desirable to waste ink by repeating the idle discharge operation of nozzles of C(cyan), M(magenta), and Y(yellow) where only the K(black) is used to print a black and white document.